Solo The Hunter becomes the Hunted

[Claudia Blackwood]

58th of Spring , 515 AV

Claudia was out in the Cobalt Mountains again. This time was no different, as she was on yet another one of those hunting trips she liked to go on so often. Well, there was one thing different from the numerous hunting trips she had gone on in the past. In the past, she wore hardly any armour at all, during these trips, wearing just the set of ordinary clothing she owned, but today was different. Today, she was wearing armour. A new set of lamellar armour she had recently acquired. These weren't really popular around these parts, and the reason she had chosen it was that firstly, it was the type of armour her father used to wear in his adventuring days, and it wasn't as expensive or encumbering as a suit of steel plate armour was.

She had her longbow with her slung across her back with its accompanying quiver in its usual place. Her gladius was secured hanging closely in its scabbard at her hip on her belt. This trip was no different from the rest of them. What could possibly go wrong? Bagging game or not wasn't the most important thing to her. After all, she wasn't doing this for a living. Fun was the key motivator behind her trips. She just loved wandering around in the woods, together with the greens of the forests, with her weapons at her side. She was no expert at using them, but she loved them with all her heart. She knew that one day, it would save her life.

She unslung her longbow from her back, holding it loosely but steadily in her hand. She listened to the cacophony of nature sounds that emanated from the mystical looking forest. Despite being no stranger to the woods and having heard the nature's orchestra countless times, she had never once gotten sick of them and every experience felt as good as the first. Taking a deep breath, she stepped forwards, moving deeper into the forest. She kept her ears peeled for anything out of the ordinary, but after a chime or two, she found nothing. So she then began walking through the woods as silently as she could, not wanting to attract any attention nor scare any potential animals away. After a bell or two of searching fruitlessly, moving through clearings after clearings, she sighted a doe a short distance ahead. Her spirits lifted as her eyes landed upon the animal.

Finally, she had found something worth hunting, or shooting for that matter. Claudia moved closer, treading on the grass softly, trying to reduce the distance between her and her target. Lifting a damp finger in the air to check for the direction of the wind, she was pleased to feel that it was in her favour, blowing in the opposite direction. Should she stay silent, the deer shouldn't be able to detect her. Her archery skills weren't exactly that good, but she was confident enough that she could make that shot now that the distance had been reduced significantly.

Gripping her bow firmly in her hands, she drew an arrow clumsily from her quiver and tried to nock the arrow. She aimed and adjusted her sights onto the deer's torso and shakily attempted to draw back the bow. But this was alot more difficult today for some reason unknown to her. Her hands wouldn't stop shaking. That wasn't a good sign. She tended to have the shakes whenever she was nervous, something just wasn’t right here. The arrow shook in its position on the bow, refusing to stay straight, moving left and right, up and down. Her earlier confidence of making the shot had promptly evaporated, but she was refusing the back down.

She was still intending on taking the shot, nervous or not. Just as she was able to slowly stabilise herself somewhat, a loud rustle from the bushes a short distance away behind could be heard, and she fired the arrow in surprise. It was with no surprise to anyone that her shot went wide, skimming past to the left of the deer, landing somewhere in the clearing ahead. The arrow spooked the animal, and it raised its head, looking in her direction before galloping away from sight.

[Claudia Blackwood]

Furious at the cause for all her problems right now, Claudia threw a threatening glare towards the rustling bushes, which seemed to be approaching towards her. She stared at it for several ticks, before rushing off towards the area where she last saw her arrow fell. She ran over as fast as her legs could carry here to the spot, picking up the arrow from the grass-covered clearing. The clearing she was in was clear of any obstruction, and she wanted to be hidden to see whatever coming that was making that noise. Her gut feelings and instincts told her that whatever that was, it was tracking her. And be it creature or man, she wanted to find out more about what it was before she reacted. She ran towards the trees at the edge of the clearing a short distance ahead. She hid herself behind the tree trunk, waiting for the thing making the sound to approach. It was getting closer and closer.

A flock of birds were disturbed and squawked as they flew up into the sky, alerting her to just how close they were now. They were just about to step onto the very same area where she was when she sighted the doe several chimes before. A final rustle or two, and the bushes parted, and her eyes landed upon the cause of all the commotion.

It was a no magical creature, no was it some frightening monster. It was just a human, a man to be precise. The man looked alot older than she was, and he seemed to be looking for something, not attempting to hide it at all. He was tall and portly, not muscular by any means, but he did not look int he least bit weak either. He had a wiry looking moustache, and his facial features reminded her of a rather fat rat. He had a leather breastplate and greaves that reminded her of a rather fat ratty looking human anyway. The only weapon she saw on him was a short sword hanging at his hip. He still probably thought he was alone and that his target was unaware of his presence. Well he was wrong. She had seen him. Then what though? What should she do next? The man rested one hand on his hip and the other on his slightly bulging belly. He gave it a pat, before he started to move on ahead, heading to the very spot she stood at now, behind the tree.

She had to do something and fast, or she'll be spotted as he walk past the clearing past the tree. Claudia had a habit not thinking things true before she did it. She tended to have this reckless streak to her. And so here she was, committing yet another reckless move. Despite being positively sure that the man was searching and following her, she did the unexpected, stepping out from behind the tree, directly into his path. In normal circumstances, one would run while being chased, but she did the unexpected instead, facing her purser head on. She wanted to know why he was following her.

Claudia pointed an accusatory finger at him asking "Who are you? Why are you following me?" Her eyes narrowed as she tried to look as intimidating as she could, squaring off to the stranger. The fat rat of a man returned a similar accusatory finger at her, gasping "You!" Composing himself after two ticks, he answered with a hand resting on the hilt on his sword. "Doesn't matter who I am girlie, but as for what I want, you'll soon find out. After I'm done with you, you'll be in a better place." He finished the statement with a lecherous grin. She saw his eyes hovering up and down her figure, staring at her armour. He then promptly added, smugly, "What's a pretty girl like you doing with armour on? Anyway, that would look better on me, come on, give it to me."

[Claudia Blackwood]

Claudia was in a precarious situation. She knew full well what the pig of a man wanted. Despite what he had said, she knew he wanted more than just her armour. The lecherous grin was clear and plain for all to see. She would need to stall him for the time-being, to see if he was alone or if he had any other accomplices on the way. But still, she asked the obvious anyway, in the interest of stalling for time. She feigned ignorance to the bandit. "What do you want? And it does matter to me who you are. Tell me. After you're done with me, what you going to do? And why should I give my armour to you? You're too fat to wear it anyway." She finished the last sentence with a sneer followed by a smirk. Might as well do it with some style. The boorish man took the bait and answered her questions. "I told you, it doesn't matter who I am girl, and as for what I want, you'll find out real soon. You look real juicy." He licked his lips lecherously as he finished.

That last phrase coupled with his suggestive action sent a shiver down her spine. This conversation was quickly spiralling downwards the longer it took. Deciding that it was enough stalling for now, she took a quick glance around, and noticed no one. The only sounds were the noises of the forest and the two of them. He was alone. That suddenly made things alot easier, knowing that the man had no backup.

Chimes had passed, and the two of them were stood standing in their respective spots staring at each other. She fingered the hilt of her gladius, getting for the moment to strike. The pig must have realised that he had enough of staring, and started to move from his spot, lifting a heavy foot, stepping towards her confidently. She didn't want him any closer. Unsheathing her gladius, the blade sang as it was removed from its metal prison. She held the sword firmly in her hands and pointed it at the man. 'Step no closer, you pig of a man." The fatso eyes bulged and red filled his face. She was pretty sure the redness was not due to embarrassment, but anger. "Why, you insolent girl! It's time for me to teach you some manners for your betters!" He drew his short sword roughly, and pointed it towards her. "You'll pay dearly for this insult."

Claudia knew that she would be no match for his brute strength, and it was paramount that she avoided a drawn out fight where brute force would be the deciding factor. She nee- Before she could even formulate a plan in her mind, the pig of a man charged angrily towards her, his sword pointed straight at her.

She needed to react, and fast. She quickly leapt to the side, out of the charging man direction. Fortunately, due to his weight, he was slow and lumbering, giving her sufficient time to act, despite being caught off-guard. She silently thanked her meagre knowledge of acrobatics and the training she had did to keep it into shape. The furious man wheeled around, enraged that his charge had failed. He bellowed and sent a wild swing towards her with his blade, which she parried confidently with her sword. As the blades struck each other, her whole arm vibrated and shook from the effort. He was alot stronger than she was, and with him enraged, even more so.

Her arm strained against the effort, and she lent her other arm's strength to the grip, holding on. With both arms on the sword, it was slightly more manageable, but she had to get out of this position, or she would not last much longer. Realising that they were close to each other, she gave him a hard kick in his nether regions, causing him to loosen his grip as he staggered backwards in shock. She then sent two quick slashes his way aiming for his enormous chest. It was an impossible target to miss, at such a distance as well. Her blade connected with his leather breastplate, slicing a medium-sized hole into it as she backed away. His armour kept his flesh well protected, but now that it was damaged it presented her with a excellent opportunity to press forwards.

[Claudia Blackwood]

The man was enraged. Completely and utterly furious. And that did not bode well for her survival odds. His movements became more erratic, and more and more difficult to predict. The fact that a girl like Claudia had managed to bypassed his defences and inflicted a successful strike upon him was too much for him to bear. Shouts and yells now accompanied his attacks, and they came with much more force than before, now that they were accompanied by rage. She now had to be extra careful, not avoid being caught up in any of his strikes.

The hole in his armour presented her with a rather enticing opportunity to end this once and for all, but she would need a appropriate occasion if she wanted to catch him off-guard. This fight was starting to drag on now and she was beginning to tire of it.

During the fight so far, she had managed to score up a couple of bruises, a few grazes, but nothing much. Her armour had done its job well enough. She had a move on her mind that could possibly end this fight soon. It was a move she had practised plenty of time before, but had never executed it before on a real person. It was a low undercut move, that was planned to strike at the opponent's legs. If said strikes would land, they would pierce the flesh of the legs, thereby immobilising said enemy. The maneuver relied on simple acrobatic moves, mainly the ducking and lowering's one body quick enough to catch one's quarry off guard. It was highly risky, and there were lots of thing that could go wrong if it without practice. She would have her acrobatics training to thank for even considering such a move.

Claudia stood back several paces, informing him through her body gestures that she was about to attack soon. The expressions of rage transformed into ones of surprise as she charged towards him, her blade held high. As she reached him, she brought her sword in a downwards slash, meeting the bandit's sword in a clash. He then gave her a kick, which she absorbed. Shyke, that hurt like hai. Persevering through the pain, she dug in deep into her reserves of strength, and going through the steps in her mind, executed the moves. Ducking a blow from the bandit, she quickly crouched low, sending a series of horizontal slashes towards the legs of the man.

As the man was fat, he had layers of fat protecting him and the slashes took some effort as her blade sliced through flesh. The yell that came next was ear-splitting, and she recoiled in shock. By the beard of Yahal, that was scary as petch. The realisation of what she had done only then came to her, as the man collapsed onto the ground with a crash, in a pool of his own blood. As a step for good measure, she stabbed him once more through the hole in his armour, just to make sure he was really dead. She hated surprises.

The bandit's sword dropped onto the grassy ground next to them, and his arms grew slack and lifeless. He was no longer a threat, and would soon bleed to death. Looking at him as his eyes rolled as he struggled desperately to win the battle to stay alive, not knowing that his efforts were futile, without the use of his legs. Claudia kicked his sword further away from them, just as an extra sign of precaution, before searching the dying guy for any belongings of note. On second thought, she would wait. Searching him would be alot easier, when he stopped shaking.

Stepping a couple of paces away, she grabbed some leaves from the surrounding plants before starting to wipe the blood off her gladius.

It wouldn't be long until the bandit passed.